Brian MacCraith joined DCU in 1986 and became president in July 2010, for a term of 10 years.
23 Facts About Brian MacCraith
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Brian MacCraith attended Ballinaclosha Primary School in County Armagh, Scoil Eoin Baiste in Dundalk, and later CBS Dundalk, from where he took his Leaving Certificate.
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Brian MacCraith's mother taught him for three years, and his father for one.
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Brian MacCraith pursued research in the areas of optical chemical sensors and biosensors, biomedical diagnostics, and nanobiophotonics, and he has published and developed intellectual property in his research areas.
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Brian MacCraith was, in 1999, the founding Director of the National Centre for Sensor Research at DCU, helping to secure funding of almost 10 million in matching grants from Atlantic Philanthropies and the Irish government's PRTLI programme.
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Brian MacCraith later proposed the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, and in 2005, this was launched as a Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre, with the largest quantum of funding for a research project in the history of the Irish state, and with MacCraith as its first director.
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Brian MacCraith proposed the Nano-bio-analytical Research Facility established at DCU in 2010.
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Brian MacCraith has been a visiting scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC.
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Brian MacCraith was selected in the search process after Ferdinand von Prondzynski's 10-year term as DCU's second president ended, and inaugurated 13 July 2010.
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Brian MacCraith emphasised the importance of Ireland's east-coast population corridor, and expressed hopes of building links between DCU and Dundalk IT, and County Louth in general, and in 2012, the two institutions concluded a cooperation agreement.
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Brian MacCraith has spoken on the question of STEM participation by female students.
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Brian MacCraith chaired the Strategic Review of Medical Training and Career Structures, which led to the "Brian MacCraith Report", and later the Review of STEM Education in the Irish School System.
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Brian MacCraith is or has been a member of the board of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Ibec, Chamber Choir Ireland, SciFest, the last of which he has chaired.
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Brian MacCraith is Chairperson of the three-member Board of Trustees of the Genio Trust, overseeing disbursal of funds for work in certain areas of social innovation, including dementia and home care.
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In 2020, Brian MacCraith was appointed by the Irish government to chair the Future of Media Commission, a commission to study and make recommendations on the future of the media in Ireland, with a particular emphasis on Public Service Broadcasting.
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In November 2020, Brian MacCraith was appointed by the Irish Government to chair its High-Level Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccination, which oversaw the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in Ireland and provided advice to the HSE and the Department of Health on the implementation of the programme.
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Brian MacCraith has published over 150 papers, and examples of peer-reviewed work include:.
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Brian MacCraith is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of SPIE, the international scientific organisation for optics and photonics.
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Brian MacCraith is one of the limited numbers of Fellows of the Irish Academy of Engineering, the body set up by the Institution of Engineers of Ireland.
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Brian MacCraith has won the Mallin Invent Award for innovation.
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Brian MacCraith was elected to membership of the Royal Irish Academy, often considered the highest academic honour in Ireland, in 2007, in the Science division.
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In 2014, Brian MacCraith was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
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Brian MacCraith is married to Catherine Brian MacCraith, and they have a daughter, Aoife, and a son, Eoin.